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Interestingly, where I'm from (BC, Canada), it's quite common to give distances between cities in terms of driving time. "Oh, Kelowna is about 5 hours away."

Interestingly, where I'm from (BC, Canada), it's quite common to give distances between cities in terms of driving time. "Oh, Kelowna is about 5 hours away." Is this expression common anywhere else?

wil421 8y ago
Yes I would give the distance in time if I was telling someone which suburb I grew up in. Ex. 30 minutes from downtown or about 45 from the airport. I would do the same referencing smaller cites or states/locations close by. 6 hours from the gulf or 2 hours from this college.
TeMPOraL 8y ago
I suppose. I've noticed that I often answer questions ostensibly about distance with time units. For instance, I was recently asked by the boss how far do I live from $meeting_place, to which I answered "90 minutes or so". Because what he was really asking for is how difficult it would be for me to get there, for which time is a much better approximation than distance. Usually people don't care about actual distance. It's not useful for much, unless you're drawing a map. Also, note how new transport options change the perception of the world. 200 years ago, my ancestor would probably not bother with a casual visit to a town 70+ km away. These days, I don't think much of running errands over that distance - it's a 1.5h bus ride away, so I can go there in the morning, do stuff, and come back before dinner (and thanks to the current tech, I can also clock in some work time during commute).
prophesi 8y ago
My friend from Houston, TX says it's very common over there. My guess is that it's due to how chaotic the roads are in Houston, so a 5 minute drive versus a 10 minute drive makes a world of a difference.
- stefantheard 8y ago
  Also from Houston. Giving distances is almost meaningless in this city 2.8 miles away could be 20 minutes or it could be 3 minutes, so time is really the only accurate measure.
wvenable 8y ago
I've heard this is a Canadian thing -- I also measure pretty much all distances by time. (15 minutes away, 2 hours away, 12 hours away, etc). This might have been the consequence of switching from imperial measurements to metric in the 70s.
penguinUzer 8y ago
Here in Ohio it is common to give distance in time. Especially south/east Ohio in the hills. There are also congested areas in Col/Cle/Cin where it might take 20min to go three miles so distance is also time there.
graeme 8y ago
I'm from eastern Canada. I'm not sure I've ever heard someone give distance colloquailly except by using time. I'm sure it has happened occasionally, but I wouldn't know how to process the information. Especially since equal distances can take different times depending on speed limits, etc
agumonkey 8y ago
I'd say it's probably the most common encoding for casual communication. Nobody remembers distance (unless for specific trips were it was read). 500m ? 1000m ? well "2min that way" + some external location to help ballparking.
k_sh 8y ago
This is common both in the Southeast US (where I'm from; for example "about an hour up the road from here") and in LA (where I live; for example "like 20 minutes from downtown, 45 with traffic")
lozf 8y ago
A friend of mine was trekking through a small village in the Amazon rainforest and got chatting to one of the locals. When he said he was from London he was asked "How many days up-stream is that?"
ajuc 8y ago
Yes, it's used in Polish (coś jest 2 godziny stąd = something is 2 hours away). Btw, there's this joke about a soldier asking a sergeant "what is timespace", and the sergeant answers "get a shovel and dig from here till sunset".
poulsbohemian 8y ago
Maybe its a Cascadia thing? I'm just south of you in eastern Washington, and I've always done the same thing.

Interestingly, where I'm from (BC, Canada), it's quite common to give distances between cities in terms of driving time. "Oh, Kelowna is about 5 hours away." Is this expression common anywhere else?

wil421 8y ago

Yes I would give the distance in time if I was telling someone which suburb I grew up in. Ex. 30 minutes from downtown or about 45 from the airport. I would do the same referencing smaller cites or states/locations close by. 6 hours from the gulf or 2 hours from this college.

TeMPOraL 8y ago

I suppose. I've noticed that I often answer questions ostensibly about distance with time units. For instance, I was recently asked by the boss how far do I live from $meeting_place, to which I answered "90 minutes or so". Because what he was really asking for is how difficult it would be for me to get there, for which time is a much better approximation than distance. Usually people don't care about actual distance. It's not useful for much, unless you're drawing a map. Also, note how new transport options change the perception of the world. 200 years ago, my ancestor would probably not bother with a casual visit to a town 70+ km away. These days, I don't think much of running errands over that distance - it's a 1.5h bus ride away, so I can go there in the morning, do stuff, and come back before dinner (and thanks to the current tech, I can also clock in some work time during commute).

prophesi 8y ago

My friend from Houston, TX says it's very common over there. My guess is that it's due to how chaotic the roads are in Houston, so a 5 minute drive versus a 10 minute drive makes a world of a difference.

stefantheard 8y ago
Also from Houston. Giving distances is almost meaningless in this city 2.8 miles away could be 20 minutes or it could be 3 minutes, so time is really the only accurate measure.

wvenable 8y ago

I've heard this is a Canadian thing -- I also measure pretty much all distances by time. (15 minutes away, 2 hours away, 12 hours away, etc). This might have been the consequence of switching from imperial measurements to metric in the 70s.

penguinUzer 8y ago

Here in Ohio it is common to give distance in time. Especially south/east Ohio in the hills. There are also congested areas in Col/Cle/Cin where it might take 20min to go three miles so distance is also time there.

graeme 8y ago

I'm from eastern Canada. I'm not sure I've ever heard someone give distance colloquailly except by using time. I'm sure it has happened occasionally, but I wouldn't know how to process the information. Especially since equal distances can take different times depending on speed limits, etc

agumonkey 8y ago

I'd say it's probably the most common encoding for casual communication. Nobody remembers distance (unless for specific trips were it was read). 500m ? 1000m ? well "2min that way" + some external location to help ballparking.

k_sh 8y ago

This is common both in the Southeast US (where I'm from; for example "about an hour up the road from here") and in LA (where I live; for example "like 20 minutes from downtown, 45 with traffic")

lozf 8y ago

A friend of mine was trekking through a small village in the Amazon rainforest and got chatting to one of the locals. When he said he was from London he was asked "How many days up-stream is that?"

ajuc 8y ago

Yes, it's used in Polish (coś jest 2 godziny stąd = something is 2 hours away). Btw, there's this joke about a soldier asking a sergeant "what is timespace", and the sergeant answers "get a shovel and dig from here till sunset".

poulsbohemian 8y ago

Maybe its a Cascadia thing? I'm just south of you in eastern Washington, and I've always done the same thing.